One of the greatest privileges we enjoy as Americans is the right to vote, and thereby to choose our government. On Nov. 4, the voters of District 34 exercised this most important privilege to re-elect me as their state senator. I want to sincerely thank you for this privilege.
    It has been my belief that “If you take care of the people, the people will take care of you.”
In a time where many are skeptical of the political process, the people of District 34 showed money can’t buy an election. It is the majority of ballots, not the majority of dollars, that ultimately decides who serves us in government.
    I encourage you to come share your ideas, opinions, and suggestions with me. My door is always open.
You can count on me to continue fighting for you and working to make our Florida the best place anywhere to live, work and play.
Maria Sachs
Delray Beach

By Dan Moffett
    
    Attorneys for the town of Gulf Stream are challenging the legitimacy of The O’Boyle Law Firm in their defense against dozens of lawsuits brought by resident Martin O’Boyle.
    In the crosshairs of the town’s counterattack is O’Boyle’s son, Jonathan, who, in documents filed with the Florida Department of State in February, lists himself as the law firm’s president and director.
    While Jonathan O’Boyle has a license to practice law in Pennsylvania, he is not licensed in Florida, and the Florida Bar requires that lawyers supervising cases have a state license.

     During a six-hour deposition with Martin O’Boyle in September, Robert Sweetapple, an attorney for Gulf Stream, repeatedly raised questions about the relationships between Jonathan O’Boyle, the family law firm, the firm’s nonprofit partner Citizens Awareness Foundation and hundreds of lawsuits that together they filed across the state.
    Sweetapple accused Martin O’Boyle of putting his son in “an untenable position” by enlisting him to perform legal work he wasn’t licensed to do.
    “You were in such a rush to have your O’Boyle law firm that you actually put your son in a position where you opened a law firm in Broward County, Florida, before he became a Florida lawyer,” Sweetapple said in the deposition.
    “No, it’s not correct,” O’Boyle responded. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    Sweetapple has filed a court complaint charging Jonathan O’Boyle and the firm with “the unlawful practice of law,” and the potential impact of the charge is far-reaching. It could undermine the validity of hundreds of public records suits the firm filed on behalf of Citizens Awareness  — against Gulf Stream, as well as dozens of other municipalities and government contractors across the state — and also tens of thousands of dollars the firm received in settlements for the cases.
The town’s complaint argues that O’Boyle’s law firm isn’t bonafide and entitled to take attorneys’ fees.
    Sweetapple, a Boca Raton lawyer the town hired in March, said he has evidence that Jonathan O’Boyle filed legal documents using the name of a Florida-licensed lawyer who worked at the O’Boyle firm. Sweetapple told O’Boyle during the deposition that attorney Giovani Mesa complained in writing to Joel Chandler, the former Citizens Awareness executive director, that Jonathan O’Boyle “filed cases in Mesa’s name without Mesa’s knowledge or consent.”
    Martin O’Boyle told Sweetapple he knows nothing about Mesa’s allegation or how CAF is run: “I have nothing to do with Citizens Awareness.”
 In an interview with The Coastal Star, however, Chandler said that Martin O’Boyle founded the group late last year and recruited him to lead it. Chandler said he left CAF after five months because he grew disillusioned with its direction.
    “I wanted to promote open government,” he said, “but it was all about making money for The O’Boyle Law Firm.”
    The law firm; Citizens Awareness; a companion group called Our Public Records LLC; and the Commerce Group, O’Boyle’s real estate development company, all share office space in the same Deerfield Beach building. Several senior Commerce Group staff members also hold positions with Citizens Awareness.
    Sweetapple said that cell phone records show that Jonathan O’Boyle was living in his father’s Gulf Stream home while running the Deerfield law firm — and while holding a Pennsylvania license that listed law offices in Philadelphia and Johnstown, state business records show. Sweetapple said in the deposition that the Philadelphia address was the townhouse residence of Jonathan’s sister and the Johnstown address was a building owned by his father; the attorney said O’Boyle used a cell phone with a 561 area code as his office number.
    “You put your son in the position of engaging in unauthorized practice of law because you solicited him to participate in your public records litigation here in Florida,” Sweetapple told Martin O’Boyle during the deposition.
    “You’re just talking nonsense,” O’Boyle answered, and said he is “not sure” where his son has been living.
    Chandler said his relationship with the O’Boyles fell apart when he was unable and also unwilling to meet a quota of 25 suits filed each week. “I thought it was an abuse of our legal system,” Chandler told The Coastal Star.
    Martin O’Boyle and another town resident, Christopher O’Hare, have filed about 1,500 public records requests to Gulf Stream, as well as dozens of complaints and lawsuits, most of them using The O’Boyle Law Firm. In October, town commissioners voted to pursue a federal RICO case (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) against the two men, alleging a pattern of behavior to intimidate and harass Gulf Stream and other municipalities.
    The O’Boyle Law Firm and Citizens Awareness settled public records suits over alleged Florida Sunshine Law violations with Fernandina Beach ($5,000), Cutler Bay ($2,250) and Miami Lakes ($2,000), among others. The settlements include compensation for legal fees that Sweetapple and Gulf Stream will allege are unjustified.
    The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization, found that The O’Boyle Law Firm had filed more than 140 lawsuits in 27 counties for Citizens Awareness and Our Public Records. Besides governments, the firm also targeted the contractors who worked for them, exploiting a 2013 amendment to state law that requires private companies holding public records to make them available.
    FCIR reported that The O’Boyle Law Firm has also sued “a Catholic charity in Sarasota County, an accountant in Hillsborough County, and ChildNet, a nonprofit in Broward County whose mission is to ‘protect abused, abandoned and neglected children.’ ”
    Chandler said he left his job at CAF in June after it became clear that “Marty O’Boyle would use public records laws like a club to get what he wants, and that’s money.”
    O’Boyle called Chandler “a crook” in the deposition and is suing his former employee, claiming he misused CAF funds, a charge Chandler flatly denies: “The only things true in the suit against me were my name and that I live in Florida.”
    Jonathan O’Boyle did not return calls and emails seeking comment for this story. Mitchell Berger, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who represents Martin O’Boyle, blames Gulf Stream for not making public records available and calls the town’s RICO suit “unfortunate.” Berger says he doesn’t “intend to litigate this matter in the press.”
    Martin O’Boyle said in the deposition that making his son part of the case was “criminal.”
    “You’re not an honorable man,” he told Sweetapple. “What you did to my son, in my world, Marty O’Boyle’s world, Marty O’Boyle’s definition, I think is a crime.”

    Basking in the glow of twinkling lights, delicious food, friends and family, I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on the meaning of gratitude.
    That’s the theme at Gulf Stream School this academic year and it seems to me to be an excellent topic for study.
    What is gratitude? According to online dictionaries, it is “the quality of being thankful; a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.”
    “Kindness.” That’s the word I hope will guide our coastal communities in 2015.
    If we can send “should” and “shouldn’t” down the garbage disposal with the potato peels, and throw out “always” and “never” with the gift wrapping, we’ll be well on our way to finding new — and less confrontational — ways to communicate with each other.  
    If we bring kindness to the forefront at our meetings and community gatherings, there may be less finger pointing and fewer lengthy diatribes. If gratitude guides our words and actions, there may be easier paths found to compromise and consensus.
    If this all sounds a little like singing Kumbaya around a bonfire, I suppose it is. To me, “kindness” is an important and timeless word. One I hope fear, cynicism and today’s obsessive 24-hour news cycle can’t destroy or make unfashionable.
    So, at each of our holiday gatherings this season, I’m suggesting we turn off the television and make this a topic of discussion: How do you define gratitude?
    With kindness, I hope. With kindness for all.
    Happy Holidays.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Athletic Director Patrick Chun celebrates with FAU President John Kelly at a press conference Dec. 2

to announce the gift of $16 million by Dick and Barbara Schmidt, seen below (at center) in this May 2014  file photo.

Joe Skipper/The Coastal Star

By Steven J. Smith

    The Schmidt Family Foundation has donated $16 million to Florida Atlantic University, which will go toward a planned $45 million -$50 million, 185,000-square-foot complex that will benefit students and student athletes at the university.
    “We’re thrilled today to announce the largest gift in the history of Florida Atlantic University,” said FAU President John Kelly, who announced the gift during a Dec. 2 press conference at the college. “It will be the lead gift in a large campaign for an athletic and academic complex designed to be rivaled by none in the country.”
    When finished, the Schmidt Family Complex for Academic and Athletic Excellence will house an academic success center; strength, conditioning and wellness centers; a sports medicine center; and a football center — which will include media rooms, offices and a locker room.
    “It will also hold an indoor practice facility, administration offices, and a history and tradition hall, which will celebrate the great history of FAU,” he said. “As our athletics programs prove successful on the national stage, more and more people will be interested in coming here.”
    The Dallas-based firm of HKS Architects was retained to do a feasibility study on the project, which will find its remaining $29 million -$34 million in funding through philanthropy in the private sector.
    FAU participates in 21 sports, 19 sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Head football coach Charlie Partridge said the new complex would provide a shot in the arm to all of those programs.
    “What you see in the design of this facility is something that’s designed for all 21 sports, with development in mind,” Partridge said. “Full-rounded development, from the academic support to the medical support to enhancing their athletic development — putting them in position to practice, regardless of weather. That puts us in position to compete on a national scale.”
    Although Kelly said the $16 million could go a long way in financing sports complex architects and planning the project, Pat Chun, FAU’s vice president for athletics, could not commit to a specific start date for the complex as yet — not until more money from the private sector is secured.
    “We’ve been working at this for quite some time and we feel very good about who we’ve been talking to,” Chun said. “We’re hopeful over the course of the next few weeks and months that we’ll have some follow-up announcements about when we’ll put a shovel in the ground.”
    Kelly said the complex will also benefit FAU students studying sports management.
    “We’re No. 4  in the United States and No. 6 in the world, with the sports management program that Dr. Jim Riordan leads,” Kelly said. “Jim and his team will be a part of this complex, as well. So not only will our students in that program have an opportunity to be in a university that’s on that ascension ladder, they will also be a part of the daily operations there.”
Partridge called the complex “a game changer,” allowing FAU to recruit a higher level of student athlete.
    “We’ve outgrown the old facility,” he said. “This new athletic village changes everything, not just for football, but for the entire athletic department.”

By Jane Smith

    At the Nov. 18 City Commission meeting where the proposed land development regulations were discussed, Commissioner Adam Frankel called Diane Colonna back into the chambers to present the Community Redevelopment Agency’s views.
    She told commissioners:
    “The version of the code presented to the CRA in September, which was the same version presented to commission at the workshop in October, changed the measure of height from feet to stories, with the ability, if certain criterion were met, to go to five stories. That is what the board supported.
    “Delray has always been on the cutting edge of development trends,” Colonna said. “We’ve had a lot of momentum from that. The CRA basically supports continuing in that direction.
    “Everybody understands that six stories leads to buildings that were squashed, floor-to-ceiling heights were shorter than would be desired. So they (the CRA board) did support that change.
    “Again anecdotally and with the general trend nationally with millennials and our efforts with the Office of Economic Development and efforts to attract entrepreneurs, people who want to live and work among like-minded folks — we’ve not had the opportunity to build that kind of office space. We are concerned that eliminating the fifth floor was going to make that even harder.”
    Mayor Cary Glickstein responded a week later:
    “Diane’s comments were accurate, but it is important to note positions serving one board’s mission may diverge from policies of another.
    “The CRA correctly looks for ways to increase their tax increment financing within its boundary to continue funding CRA initiatives — a critically important tool.
    “The commission’s role, however, is establishing citywide policy. Allowing taller buildings and higher densities may increase land values that increase CRA revenue, but such growth management ‘tools’ should be coupled with current citywide growth management policy beyond the dated 12-year-old master plan we have. 
    “Some differences (between boards) should be expected, particularly when most taxpayers reside outside the downtown that lies within the CRA district, with many of those residents looking to the commission to address their concerns about the quantity and quality of recently  approved  development and the imbalance created by a preponderance of residential rental projects.

By Tim Pallesen

    Delray Beach might lose Artists Alley, the unique arts district that the mayor says “has been so important for the renaissance of this city.”
    Artists work in warehouse studios along the railroad tracks near Pineapple Grove. But the warehouses will be sold at a Feb. 23 foreclosure auction.
    The artists, fearing that a new owner will bulldoze their studios, have pleaded with the city for help.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein accepted the challenge at a Nov. 13 workshop, but the city can’t stop the auction.
    “We may get lucky with someone at the foreclosure who likes the property as it is,” Glickstein told commissioners. “But it is incumbent on us not to leave it to chance.”
    Glickstein is exploring whether the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency could be one of the bidders at the foreclosure auction. The CRA is already spending $3.5 million in improvements for the arts district.
    The property’s $4.2 million appraised value concerned Commissioner Jordana Jarjura. “There are a lot of things we would like to do, but I don’t know if we have enough money,” she said.
    “We have the capacity to borrow,” Glickstein replied, suggesting that the city could acquire the property, impose deed restrictions to preserve it as an arts district, and then resell it.
    As the city struggles to find a solution, the news that Artists Alley might be demolished has caused alarm in the arts community.
    “Artists Alley is an enormous asset to Delray Beach and the county,” said Marilyn Bauer, marketing director for the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.
    “Artists come together in this great place to make art and welcome the community in to see it,” Bauer said. “To lose this would be a terrible shame.”
    The city’s new planning and zoning director, Dana Little, joined the concern after his first visit to observe the artists at work.
    “Frankly, I was blown away,” Little reported back to commissioners. “It’s an extraordinary array of different artists. The quality of their work is just stunning.”
    Glickstein met with the artists again on Nov. 26.
    “We’re going to make it work some way, somehow,” the mayor assured them before Thanksgiving.

By Jane Smith

    The woman whose name is synonymous with the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency will leave in January.
    Diane Colonna gave her board a resignation letter in late November. She will join former Delray Beach CRA chief Chris Brown at his consulting firm, Redevelopment Management Associates in Pompano Beach. She will be assigned as the executive director of the Margate CRA on Jan. 5.
    “It’s an interesting and exciting opportunity to work with Chris Brown and Kim Briesemeister, who was working for West Palm Beach, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale CRAs,” Colonna said.
    The resignation from her $136,000 a year job, caught her board by surprise.
    “We are going to miss her, she has been there so long, she has contributed so much that she will be hard to replace,” said CRA chair Herman Stevens Jr.
    The CRA board will launch a search “to find a candidate as qualified as her. It will be hard,” Stevens said.
    Her new company won’t be taking over the CRA, as it did when Briesemeister left her position at the West Palm Beach CRA. “The (Delray Beach) CRA wants a full-time director, so they nixed that idea,” Colonna said. She will present a search strategy at the Dec. 11 CRA meeting.
    Her presence will be missed.
    “You simply cannot have an in-depth discussion about Delray’s success story without the inclusion of Diane’s thoughtful and effective leadership and accomplishments in her previous role as planning director and current position as CRA executive director,” said Mayor Cary Glickstein.  “By any measure, she’s one of the community leaders that helped make our town what it is today.” 
    A Penn State grad, she moved to Delray Beach in 1987 and joined the city in its Planning and Zoning Department in 1992 and became planning director in 1994.  In 2000, the city asked her to be its CRA executive director on a temporary basis while it searched for Brown’s replacement.
    She liked the job so much that she stayed.
    She is married to Jeff Perlman, former commissioner and mayor of Delray Beach from 2000 to 2007, and now vice president of business development of CDS Holdings. That firm is owned by Carl DeSantis, a partner in the proposed Atlantic Crossing development in downtown Delray Beach.
    Colonna quickly gained a reputation as decisive and sometimes that pace put her at odds with those who preferred a slower pace. While the CRA was undergoing a leadership change in 2000, the agency had applied for demolition permits to clear land for the Atlantic Grove development. Some homes in the West Settlers Historic District were demolished inadvertently, according to published reports at the time.
    Colonna took over when two homes set for demolition were still standing. She said at the time that she thought the permits had cleared properly.
    The CRA formed an advisory board of West Settlers residents and set aside $50,000 annually to help save homes there.
    When Atlantic Grove was finished, it was not as affordable to the community as promised. As a result, the CRA held more community meetings for its next land assemblage before shopping the property to developers.
    “Before, there was the feeling that government knows what’s best for people,” Colonna said at the time. “Now there’s the feeling that the neighborhoods know what they want.”
    Bob Ganger, president of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, praised Colonna for not “losing sight of the cultural value of historic buildings.”
    Colonna said her chief accomplishments were revitalizing the downtown, creating attractive affordable housing, promoting the art and culture scene and helping to stabilize neighborhoods.
    The iPic Theater project won’t break ground until after she leaves, at the end of 2015, she said, and explained the development approval process is lengthy.
    Brown had contacted her in late October about working as a consultant for his firm, Colonna said. She will run the Margate CRA on a contract basis.
    Brown was thrilled at the prospect of Colonna joining his company. “I never expected her to say yes. It’s an opportunity to bring on one of the best people in the CRA business,” he said.
    Colonna, 57,  will work full-time on a four-day week contract basis that pays $40 an hour.
    Margate, with a similar population to Delray Beach, has no developed town center, giving her a blank development slate.
    In her resignation to the Delray Beach CRA board, she called her 14-plus years at the CRA helm amazing and was “grateful to have been part of such an exciting renaissance.”

By Tim Pallesen   

    The selection of Delray Beach’s new city manager was all about toughness.
    Don Cooper was chosen by a 3-0 vote on Nov. 7 after job references told Delray commissioners that Cooper was a tough leader as Port St. Lucie city manager for 19 years.

    Mayor Cary Glickstein said he sought a strong city manager to build a team at City Hall by mandating the best management practices to city employees. Commissioners Shelly Petrolia and Jordana Jarjura joined with him. Commissioners Al Jacquet and Adam Frankel were absent.
    “The top criteria for me would be results, results and results,” Glickstein said. “At the end of the day, this city needs results.”
    Cooper, 64, was the last of five finalists interviewed by commissioners at the meeting. The mayor told him that his job references described him as “strong, tough and a bit arrogant.”
    “I never thought I was particularly tough,” Cooper responded. “I hold people to be accountable.”
    “I don’t think staff should feel that accountability is a threat,” he explained. “Accountability brings increased performance.”
    That response delighted Jarjura. “I agree with him. I think credibility, accountability and doing your job is a lost art,” she said. “I don’t think that’s being tough.”
    Petrolia focused on a Port St. Lucie commissioner’s description of Cooper as an “iron fist in a velvet glove.”
    “Staff might not feel warm and fuzzy with some of the comments that you are making,” Petrolia told Cooper. “Not that that’s a bad thing.”
    The toughness talk took a different twist earlier in the meeting when commissioners interviewed interim city manager Terry Stewart for the permanent job.
    Commissioners thanked Stewart for his past four months. But Glickstein pressed Stewart about how he would act differently if he got the permanent job.
    “You are one of the toughest, most straight-forward individuals I’ve ever worked with,” Stewart responded to the mayor. “You don’t pull any punches.”
    Stewart said the pressure to perform is having a “profound effect” on city employees.
    “The people out there in the trenches. They take it to heart tremendously. It hurts them,” Stewart said.
    “They want to be able to do a good job to make you happy,” he said. “Please understand the impact that you are having on people sometimes.”
    Stewart also said Petrolia and Jarjura are tough: “It’s a tough group.”
    Cooper starts in Delray Beach on Jan. 5 with a salary of $170,000.

By Dan Moffett

    Rob Sivitilli offered to write Ocean Ridge as many checks as needed to save his family’s commercial building at 5011 N. Ocean Blvd.
    He told town commissioners he would reimburse the town for the legal fees it ran up fighting the Sivitillis in court for over a decade. He said he would give the town $250,000 to hold in escrow for the building’s renovation. He said he would indemnify the town against future lawsuits from other property owners who might come forward and want similar commercial concessions.
    Sivitilli even offered to pay Town Attorney Ken Spillias to help come up with a development plan to ensure the building is used in a way that suits the town for years to come.
    In the end, none of it was enough to win Sivitilli the three votes he needed to pass an ordinance that would grandfather the family property into compliance with town rules.
    Commissioners James Bonfiglio and Richard Lucibella voted against the ordinance, Commissioner Lynn Allison and Mayor Geoffrey Pugh voted for it, and Commissioner Gail Adams Aaskov, who would have supported the Sivitillis, had to recuse herself because she rents space for her business in the building.
    The proposal died at the Dec. 1 meeting for lack of a majority.
    “Every promise that could possibly be made has been made by the Sivitillis,” Allison said. “What else can he promise you? What are we looking for? Blood?”
    Lucibella became the swing vote in recent weeks, opposing the family’s renovation plan after leaning toward approving it in October. He said his concern had grown about changing the town’s rules to accommodate one property owner, and he worried about potential legal consequences. He said Sivitilli had shown the commission an attractive renovation plan, but that isn’t enough.
    “I’m concerned we’re going to get sued,” Lucibella said. “What Rob has come in and done is just too little too late.”
    Bonfiglio, the commission’s most strident critic of grandfathering the property, was firmly opposed to changing the town’s rules, calling it “spot zoning” that is sure to bring lawsuits. Bonfiglio said the family should apply for a variance, which the code allows, if it wants to stay in business, or petition for a change in the town’s comprehensive plan.
    Allison and Pugh believed that the commercial building wasn’t detrimental to the town, and with the renovation, could become an asset.
    “It’s not just a benefit for one family,” Allison said. “A lot of people in Ocean Ridge use the services there. It would benefit the town.”
    Sivitilli said he was disappointed in the vote, but wasn’t giving up. He said he’s considering bringing the commission another proposal — to de-annex the property from the town.
    “They say we don’t fit, so then let us go,” he said. “De-annexation could be a possibility. We’ll keep trying. We don’t give up easy.”

By Dan Moffett

    Like an incoming tide, Ocean Ridge commissioners are inching closer and closer to finding a line in the sand where public and private interests can coexist in peace.
    After months of debate, the commission has settled on a demarcation line that will enable police to enforce beach behavior and also agreed on language for signs that will inform beachgoers about the town’s rules.
    Town Manager Ken Schenck told commissioners at the Dec. 1 meeting that, over the years, the state has drawn boundaries between public and private beachfront in determining the erosion control line and mean high water line.
    “There are two separate erosion control lines,” Schenck said. “The line north of Anna Street was established in 1997 and the line south of Anna Street was established in 1987.”
    The southern erosion control line was the same as the mean high water line, Schenck said, but the MHWL is not permanent while the ECL is, and complicating the matter is that the eastern boundaries of private property lines are not uniform and in fact vary considerably.
    Confused? Town Attorney Ken Spillias says you probably should be.
    “That’s what we’ve been struggling with — the absence of bright lines,” said Spillias, who thinks it would probably take a court case for the town to get a “clear delineation” of where public and private rights meet on many properties in the town.
    “I think what the manager (Schenck) is trying to do is identify an acceptable approach to enforcement,” Spillias said.
    Commissioner Richard Lucibella called it “not a directive but an expectation.” He said the police have to figure it out and know where the property lines are.
    Schenck said that when police are patrolling the beaches, they will address any violations they see. “When addressing trespassing,” he said in a memo to commissioners, “the property owner or an authorized representative must make the complaint and request the individual move and the police will document the notice.”
    On a 4-1 vote with Commissioner James Bonfiglio dissenting, the commission gave preliminary approval to language for signs at the crossovers. Signs won’t say “Beach Access” at the top, but instead simply “Town of Ocean Ridge.”
    Commissioners decided against “No Unloading,” settling instead for “No Stopping,” a concession to residents who believe it’s unreasonable to expressly prohibit motorists from dropping off people or possessions at the roadside. Signs will say no to dogs, glass and vehicles on the beach.
    Lucibella said the sometimes stormy yearlong debate should not be misinterpreted as an effort to restrict public access.
    “This is not about moving people off the beach, closing the beach or arresting people for trespassing,” he said. “It’s about recognizing your property rights. And you can’t recognize private property rights until you know where the property is.”

By Dan Moffett

    South Palm Beach voters will likely get the chance to make some significant changes to their town’s charter when they go to the polls in March.
    At their Nov. 18 meeting, Town Council members gave preliminary approval to four amendments that would end term limits for council members as well as boards and committees, change the requirements for town manager applicants and eliminate special elections for filling unexpired council terms.
    The ordinances that will put the changes on the March ballot will require final approval after a second reading at the Dec. 15 council meeting, so some revisions are still possible.
    Here’s a look at what the proposed amendments would do:
    • Eliminate term limits for the Town Council, beginning with candidates elected next March.
    Council members unanimously agreed that it didn’t make sense to limit elected officials when the town often has struggled to find people willing to serve. Councilwoman Bonnie Fischer also made the point that term limits don’t allow for the learning curve needed to serve effectively on the council. “It takes time to know what you’re doing in this job,” she said. “Experience is important.”
    • Eliminate term limits for boards and committees.
    Council members unanimously agreed that residents who are willing to work on the town’s boards and committees shouldn’t be forced out because of term limits. The town has had trouble finding enough people willing to volunteer their service and should try to keep those they find.
    • Eliminate special elections when a council seat unexpectedly becomes vacant for longer than six months.
    The Town Council would be able to appoint a candidate to the council to serve out an unexpired term of greater than six months, until the next scheduled March election when the seat would be put before the voters. The change would save the town between $6,000 and $8,000, the cost of holding a special election, and prevent spring and summer votes when South Palm Beach’s snowbird population is at its low.
    “You don’t want to have a special election when no one is in town,” said Town Attorney Brad Biggs.
    Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan was the lone vote against the proposed amendment, worrying that someone appointed to the council would have an unfair advantage in the next election.
    • Revise the qualifications for the town manager position.
    Currently, the charter requires that candidates for town manager have at least 10 years’ experience and a specialized degree in the field. Council members unanimously agreed that the requirements are too restrictive and could keep talented candidates from applying. Eliminating those prerequisites allows the Town Council to evaluate applicants on a case-by-case basis and recruit younger prospects who might be short on experience but long on potential.
    Town Manager Rex Taylor, who is retiring this month, endorsed the changes, which would not take effect until March. Taylor said the town has received applications from 11 candidates who want to replace him and will interview finalists on Dec. 6, in the Town Hall. The interviews are open to the public. Ú

Joanne Stanley laughs as she prepares to take the first swipe of hair from the head

of Lantana Mayor David Stewart during a fundraiser for Forgotten Soldiers Outreach

at the Red, White & Buzz Festival at the Lantana Recreational Center. The community had about

five months to raise $20,000 for the Lake Worth-based Forgotten Soldiers Outreach.

While the $20,000 fund-raising challenge came up short, Stewart was a good sport

and pleased the crowd by cutting his hair and shaving his beard for their entertainment.

Debbie Maley did most of the cutting.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

    In Lantana, “the big chair” is reserved for memorable moments. Since Mayor Dave Stewart was about to have one of those on Nov. 9, he asked that the chair — which was donated to the town many years ago and very much resembles a throne — be summoned from storage. Then hizzoner donned a cape and took a seat for a royal buzz cut.
    The shearing was the culmination of the Chamber of Commerce’s Red, White & Buzz celebration at the Recreation Center, a Veterans Day party to raise money and awareness for Forgotten Soldiers Outreach — and to have some good ol’ small town fun (bake sale, dunk tanks, live music and haircuts to benefit the charity).
    Five months earlier, Stewart — whose hair, beard and mustache once won him third place in a Hemingway look-alike contest in Key West — vowed to shave it all off if $20,000 could be raised for Forgotten Soldiers Outreach by Veterans Day. When only half that amount was collected, Stewart agreed to endure a 50 percent shearing, although it ended up “more like Marine cut,” he said.
    The big reveal was pretty dramatic.
    “Lantana has a new mayor,” one onlooker proclaimed.
    And a young woman watching the transformation joked about the “cool new guy in town.”
    The plan for the mayoral shave-off hatched earlier this year when Stewart expressed his frustration at how little money was being contributed to John Oldham, community relations officer and chief money collector for Forgotten Soldier’s Outreach, which sends care packages to soldiers.
    “He goes to so many meetings,” Stewart said of Oldham. “And he leaves with six or eight bucks.”
    At a Chamber gathering hosted by Debbie Maley at Beach Cuts Hair Salon earlier this year, Stewart insisted something had to be done. He urged attendees to dig deeper into their pockets to help Forgotten Soldier’s Outreach.
    That’s when Mina (McGill) Jazzo of Robert McGill Air Conditioning, a Lake Worth High School classmate of Stewart’s, threw down the challenge. She also pledged the first $500 if Stewart agreed to shave it all off for the charity.
    Stewart agreed and the Chamber of Commerce quickly planned the Red, White and Buzz event around the challenge.
    Stewart said he has had his beard and wavy locks for 39 years and when he thought about having it all shaved off, he didn’t flinch. “I just thought of Joanne Stanley of Republic Services (the company contracted to pick up the town’s garbage). She got really sick with cancer and lost her hair for two years. It took a long time for her hair to grow back. Mine will grow back in a few months.”
    Despite falling short of the $20,000 goal, Stewart said money was still coming in and now, when Oldham goes to meetings, he leaves with more money and bigger bills than he had previously.
    “It’s all for a good cause and a local (Lake Worth-based) charity that does an awful lot of good for our soldiers,” he said.
    And the big chair has been returned to storage until the next memorable moment arises.

How to donate
    The non-profit Forgotten Soldiers Outreach, Inc. has been sending care packages to soldiers overseas since 2003. Donations of candy, snacks, socks, toiletries, handwritten letters and reading material are accepted, as are cash donations, which help defray mailing costs. Volunteers are also needed to pack boxes. For more information call 369-2933 or visit www.forgottensoldiers.org.

Coastal Star writer Rich Pollack test-drove a Porsche 911 Turbo. BELOW: Drivers take to the road

in the Waldorf Astoria Driving Experience in a McLaren MP4-12C (front),

a Ferarri 458 Italia (center) and a Porsche 911 Turbo.

Photos by Joe Skipper/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    There are cars that speak to you, that tell you when your door is open, where to turn as you navigate unfamiliar terrain and when a call is coming in on your cell phone.
    Then there are the cars that roar, letting their motors do all the talking — or, given the opportunity, the screaming.
    These are cars only a few ever get to drive and they include exotics like a McLaren MP4-12C, a Ferrari 458 Italia and a Porsche 911 Turbo.
    Now, the circle of those lucky enough to get a taste of what it feels like to be behind the wheel of three powerful vehicles — including a couple priced beyond that of an average three-bedroom home with a two-car garage — is expanding ever so slightly, thanks to the Waldorf Astoria Driving Experiences.
    Brought to you by the people who own the iconic Boca Raton Resort & Club, the driving experience provided 35 hotel guests — who each plunked down a cool grand last month — a chance to take a tour of South Palm Beach County while driving cars that can hit top speeds of over 200 miles per hour and when properly punched can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds.
    Also getting a chance to take these fast cars for a three-hour spin were a handful of journalists, including yours truly, who — after signing a series of waivers and learning that we would be on the hook for the $7,500 deductible should the unimaginable happen — got to take turns driving each of the vehicles.
    Guiding us on our journey — which took us from State Road A1A to U.S. Highway 441 and from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach — was retired race car driver Didier Theys.
    Surprisingly patient for a man who has won twice at Daytona, stood on the podium at Le Mans and won the 12 Hours of Sebring, Theys gave each of us a one-on-one overview of the vehicles we were about to drive. For most of the folks in our group, this was the first chance we had to drive cars that most can only dream of taking out on the open road.
    First up was the McLaren, a car many of those who posed for photos with the vehicles outside the Boca Resort & Club had never seen before. With its butterfly — or vertical — doors open and its sleek look, the McLaren has the sportiest appearance of the cars we drove.
    It may also have been the most powerful. Pulling out of the hotel’s parking lot, the McLaren kept wanting to go, creeping forward the second the brake was released.
    As we headed out on Palmetto Park Road to 441, our co-pilot for the first leg of the drive — Stuart Foster, marketing vice president for Waldorf Astoria — kept encouraging us to “punch it” to feel the real power of the McLaren. Fearing flashing blue lights in the rearview mirror and ever mindful of the $7,500 deductible, we kept our need for speed in check.
    We did, however, manage to get the McLaren into sixth gear. Although we were in the mid-90s speed range, it felt as though we were only traveling at half that speed.
    Later, Foster would get behind the wheel of the McLaren and give it that 0 to 60 “punch” as he whipped past a slow-moving truck.
    It quickly became obvious that he wasn’t as worried about the deductible as we were.
    As he drove, Foster explained that the Waldorf Astoria Driving Experiences, a pilot program being held this year at six of the company’s premier resorts, were designed to emphasize the heart and soul of the Waldorf Astoria brand — that it is an unforgettable experience.
    “What we’re doing is creating a memory that is unforgettable and that will bring guests back,” he said, adding that the program is likely to expand next year.
    Certainly for us, the experience truly was unforgettable.
    Of the three cars we test drove, each had its own strengths and appeal. The McLaren had the power, the Ferrari had the sound and the feel of a true race car while the Porsche 911 Turbo had the ride and the comfort of a car you could easily drive on your commute to work or on a weekend drive.
    While none of these cars will talk to you, they are all cars you will talk about once you’ve had the opportunity to put them through their paces.

INSET BELOW: Simone Bonutti

By Dan Moffett

    Manalapan’s Town Commission will get more than the perspective of an oceanfront resident now that Simone Bonutti has been sworn in to the vacant No. 4 seat.
    The town will also get the perspective of a parent with a young family, something the commission hasn’t had much of in recent years. Bonutti and her husband, Peter, an orthopedic surgeon, are raising their six children — ages 10 years to 3 months — in Manalapan, and looking out for their future is part of her reason for seeking public office.
    “My kids are here, I’m living here permanently, so I want to have an understanding of what’s going on,” Bonutti said. “We can be kind of isolated along the ocean. Lots of people aren’t permanent residents and they come and go. We are permanent residents, and I’d like to help out the community any way I can.”
    Bonutti, 40, was graduated from the University of Mississippi and had a career in sales of medical devices and pharmaceuticals before moving to Manalapan 10 years ago. The Bonuttis are renovating the 24,000-square-foot Italian-style home at 1680 S. Ocean and have plans in the works to install a tunnel under A1A.
    Mayor David Cheifetz said a number of residents had come forward about filling the seat vacated by Vice Mayor Louis DeStefano in October, but Bonutti, who also had expressed interest in a commission opening four years ago, was clearly the best choice.
    “She is head and shoulders above the other people I’ve been thinking about,” Cheifetz said, before the commission unanimously approved Bonutti’s appointment.
“I’m looking forward to having a voice for people on the ocean side,” she said.
    Bonutti said she would consider bringing back Manalafest, a festival that the town held annually from 2003 to 2008, as a way to bring residents together and enable “neighbors to communicate with neighbors.”
    According to Town Clerk Lisa Petersen, Bonutti becomes only the sixth woman to hold office in Manalapan in the last 78 years, succeeding Kelly Gottlieb (the town’s first female mayor in 2010), Marilyn Hedberg (2009), Ruth Caddell (1982), Gertrude Vanderbilt (1940) and Madeleine Gedney (1936).
    In other business:
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf told commissioners that work to bring the Town Hall into compliance with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements is progressing and should be completed by the end of January.
    Stumpf said most of the modifications inside the building have been done and only a few more changes — moving a toilet, replacing door hinges — remain. She said the town hopes to get bids back from contractors for outside construction by the Dec. 16 meeting. In all, the town expects to spend about $50,000 to make the building ADA compliant, with most of that going toward changes that improve access from the parking lot.
    Stumpf said after contractors finish the Town Hall, bids will go out on work to make the library compliant.
    Town resident Kersen De Jong, who has made repeated complaints to the town about ADA violations and accused officials of dragging their feet on fixing them, warned commissioners that the Town Hall might lose its standing as an election poll and the library might lose its accreditation, if the construction wasn’t finished in a timely manner. The comment touched off a heated exchange with Cheifetz.
    “Thank you so much for your threats, Mr. De Jong, we appreciate it,” the mayor said. “And I’m so delighted you could make it in here today but you couldn’t make it in here to vote.”
    “Your cynical remarks about my handicap are not being appreciated!” shouted De Jong, who lost his legs in a 1976 accident. “How do you dare to say you’re glad that I made it in here? How do you dare!”

A large banyan tree (opposite tree on right) was cut down on North Atlantic Drive,

causing a furor among residents who said the tree should have been protected.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter
    
    Sections of Atlantic Drive, Hypoluxo Island’s main street, resemble a tree-shaded country road. Many who have lived on the island for years treasure the trees and shudder to think that any could be cut down.
    But that’s exactly what happened recently to a large banyan tree at North Atlantic Drive at the corner of East Ocean Avenue. The tree was cut down as part of a renovation project being filmed for Vanilla Ice’s (aka Rob Van Winkle’s) television documentary for DIY TV Productions.
    As limbs fell to the ground, the phone began ringing off the hook at the Hypoluxo Island home of Richard Schlosberg and his wife, Judy Black, environmentalists and council watchers who addressed the issue at the Nov. 10 Lantana Town Council meeting.
    “It was a travesty to remove that banyan tree,” Schlosberg said. It was, he said, an important canopy tree that provided habitat for small wildlife and birds who winter in Florida.
    His wife called the tree loss “unfathomable.”
    Could anything have been done to stop the tree from being cut down?
    Apparently not, the couple was told.
    “It’s not a protected tree,” said Mayor Dave Stewart, who lives on North Atlantic Drive. “Trees come down just like houses come down. People have their personal property rights. … New trees will be planted.”
    Stewart said the banyan didn’t fit into the new owner’s landscape plans. Getting a permit is a formality, he said, “to see if the tree is protected.”
    Schlosberg argued that the tree was an aura banyan, native to the state, and should be protected.
    According to Town Attorney Max Lohman, five species of banyans are prohibited and the aura banyan is on neither the protected nor the prohibited list.
    Exactly how old the banyan tree was is not known.
    “It’s not in any of the pictures we have from the late ’40s,” Stewart said. “But it was a big tree.”
    But the banyan wasn’t the only tree cut down on the property, and some of the trees, several oaks, were protected.
    A Landscape Review Application was approved on Oct. 22 for removal of 12 dead palms and four mango trees. Owners submitted another application on Oct. 29 to remove a large banyan in the front yard.  That application triggered a tree survey.  
    “We know of at least two large oaks that were probably specimen trees per our code,” Town Manager Deborah Manzo said. “Since they were already cut down, we are not sure of their diameter. Our code requires one and a half times the diameter to be mitigated. On Friday, Nov. 14, the contractor brought in the tree survey and David (Thatcher, the town’s development services director) approved it. The plan provides for one and a half times tree replacement for the two oaks that were removed; therefore, no fines will be assessed.”  
    Work on the renovation and filming is expected to continue through April 30.

By Jane Smith

    Boynton Beach does not want to be the Grinch that stole Christmas this year.
    Board members of its Community Redevelopment Agency voted 5-2 last month to return the 43rd annual boat parade to a Friday night.
    The CRA staff had recommended switching the parade to a Saturday night to better accommodate the schedule of boat captains and tried unsuccessfully over the summer to contact Delray Beach staffers about the change. Then, the CRA staff found out Delray Beach has a street parade scheduled for that Saturday night and its police need to have the Atlantic Avenue Bridge remain in a down position.
    “In the spirit of Christmas or the holiday or whatever you want to call it, is that we go for Friday,” said community board member Woodrow Hay when making the motion. He wants the CRA staff to start contacting Delray Beach staff early next year to create a partnership.
    The Boynton Beach-Delray Beach Holiday Boat Parade will be Dec. 12, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Lantana bridge and traveling south on the Intracoastal Waterway to the C-15 Canal between Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.
    CRA board member and City Commissioner David Merker voted against the switch after CRA Executive Director Vivian Brooks said, “We obviously felt Saturday was better for the majority of residents of the CRA … based on the response from the captains. We started to work very early with Delray, but due to a turnover in their staff, and you can see from the emails, that there is a timeline that we need to know because we have to plan not only this event, but Pirates [Fest] and holidays.”
    CRA community board member James Buchanan also voted against the switch. He said, “While we are being full of Christmas cheer and doing this for Delray, Delray has done nothing for us. This is a pure gift from our side … I do believe the boat parade is much better on a Saturday for people to attend and for the boat captains.”
    Delray Beach resident Reeve Bright, who ran the parade for nearly 30 years, offered to collect some money to offset the city’s costs and concerns that the CRA could not spend money for events outside its boundary.
    “I am not here to cast aspersions on Boynton or Delray,” Bright told the CRA board. “Nobody ever said and I never said, ‘Those bums in Boynton don’t want to give us any money.’ It’s a holiday parade, for both towns and that’s the way it was.”
    A week later, Bright said he had some commitments, but he didn’t want to disclose their names or occupations. How would he describe them? “Civic-minded individuals who like the boat parade,” he said.
    Bright is not seeking a certain amount or percentage of the $12,000 the CRA has budgeted to spend on the parade. Most of that, he said, was “Boynton-centric expenses: Santa, bleachers and other items designed to draw people to the downtown.”
    The awards portion is about $4,000, and that’s where his group will help, he said.
    To enter a boat in the parade, contact Amy Zimmerman at the Boynton Beach CRA, 600-9097.

By Rich Pollack

    A controversial plan to build a 16-story luxury condominium in Highland Beach received a major blow when the town’s Board of Adjustment and Appeals denied a variance request that would have permitted the project to exceed the town’s 35-foot height limit by 174 feet.
    In a unanimous decision last month, the six-member board voted to deny the request by the developer, Golden City Highland Beach LLC, to allow a 209-foot high building on 7.35 acres at 3614 S. Ocean Blvd.
    Before the decision, board members listened to several hours of presentations by attorneys on both sides and environmental experts, as well as comments from several residents who packed the meeting to voice opposition to the project.
    “This has been an eye-opening experience,” said Marny Glasser, a resident from the neighboring Toscana condominium, who spoke against the proposed variance. “It was good to see the process work effectively with the right result.”
    In reaching the decision to deny the variance, several board members said they did not feel the developer met the eight criteria outlined in the town code, needed for approval of a variance.
    Among the criteria required is evidence that special conditions exist and that those conditions represent a hardship. The developer is also required to prove the variance would be the minimum variance needed to make use of the land possible.
    “There were a lot of obstacles in the criteria that the developer needed to overcome,” said Barry Donaldson, who chairs the appointed Board of Adjustment and Appeals.
    During closing comments to the board, attorney Nathan Nason, representing Golden City, argued that the developer did indeed meet the criteria.
    “We have met all of the requirements and we believe we’re entitled to the variance,” Nason said.
    In filing for the variance, Nason contended that there are extenuating circumstances that should be considered so the developer could move forward with the 45-unit condominium project.
    Nason pointed out that the property is primarily wetlands and that only about 10 percent of the parcel is usable for development, with the remaining 90 percent filled with mangroves.
    “There are special conditions that are peculiar to this parcel,” he said. “There are the mangroves and the shape of the land. As a result, we’re left with the inability to develop this property in accordance with its zoning potential.”
    In an earlier letter supporting approval of the variance, Nason also said that the property is already surrounded by condominiums that are taller than the town’s current height limit.
    Those buildings, opponents of the project pointed out, were built before the 35-foot height restriction was adopted.
    In considering the variance, the Board of Adjustment and Appeals heard from lawyers representing Toscana residents as well as an attorney representing the owner of a home across from the site of the proposed development. The board also considered dozens of letters it received from residents of Toscana and other nearby properties.
    “Everyone who wanted to speak had the opportunity to do so,” Glasser said. “The board wanted to make sure it dotted every ‘i’ and crossed every  ‘t’.”
    Earlier in the meeting, the board approved a request by the developers of property at 3200 S. Ocean Blvd. for a variance that would allow for construction of a porte cochère “a covered entryway” within a 40-foot setback area.

Highland Beach Mayor Bernard Featherman cuts the ceremonial ribbon Dec. 1 during an open house

to show off the recently completed renovations to Town Hall. The project cost taxpayers $900,000.

Residents were given a chance to tour the council chambers and police department. The event was held

in conjunction with the town’s Light Up the Holidays celebration.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Town Manager Kathleen D. Weiser congratulates Mark Marsh of Bridges, Marsh & Associates

of Palm Beach. Marsh drew up the plans for the project, which includes enhancements to the police department.

Kevin Dwyer hands off a pile of paper and cardboard to be recycled to Roy Miller.

These Briny Breezes volunteers — along with Roger Hebert — were riding in a trailer

driven by Ken Doyle during a recent recycling run.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
    The Briny Breezes recycling crew starts gathering at the Quonset hut on the west side of Ocean Boulevard at 7:45 a.m. Mondays.
    During the season, 10 volunteers use three golf carts and a pickup truck with wagons to collect newspapers, magazines and cardboard from the mobile home park residents.
    Ken Doyle, at age 79, is the designated driver of the pickup with its hand-cranked windows. Three volunteers ride in the makeshift wagon pulled by the truck.
    “I asked (volunteer Roy Miller) about how I could help, and Roy said be at the Quonset hut by 8 a.m. on Mondays,” said Kevin Dwyer, who has been part of the crew for 16 years. Dwyer, the youngest man, often jumps out of the wagon to pick up paper bags stuffed with newspapers. They frown on papers stuffed in plastic bags because they can’t be recycled and require an extra trip to a grocery store where they are collected.
    As Doyle drives slowly through the narrow streets, Don Hebert, originally from New Hampshire, and Miller, originally from Massachusetts, yell, “YO!” when Doyle drives by a bag or a box full of newspapers. The men give a royal wave to the residents sitting on their porches or inside their mobile homes.
    In 30 minutes, they are finished collecting from their district of the park.
    That in-person service gave Briny Breezes the highest per-capita recycling rate of .94 tons among South County coastal communities, according to data recently released by the Solid Waste Authority.
    No. 2 among coastal communities is the town of South Palm Beach. Its per capita recycling rate is .86.
    “That is the result of the fact that we are a town of condo buildings and have recycling units in a common trash collection area,” said Town Manager Rex Taylor. “We’ve done a good job with the collection areas. (When you are) taking the trash down, might as well take the recyclables with you.”
    The town also mentions the recycling program in its newsletters.
    Highland Beach ranks No. 3 with a per capita recycling rate of .74 tons.
    The town educates residents about recycling through its quarterly newsletter and its TV station — channel 99 on Comcast, said Zoie Burgess, assistant to the town manager. It encourages residents to recycle by providing bins to condo and single-family-home residents.
    Since 2010, the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County has shared recycling revenues with each city, less the processing costs.
    All managers of the coastal communities reached for this story said they use the recycling revenue in their general funds.
    Ocean Ridge ranks fourth with a per capita rate of .61 tons. Republic Services has its waste removal contract and picks up recyclables weekly.
    “When new people move in, they are made aware of the recycling program,” said Ken Schenck, town manager.
    The town of Gulf Stream ranks sixth at .45 tons per capita. Town Manager William Thrasher said residents receive recycling bins that are picked up weekly by Waste Management.
    Ranking fifth was Manalapan at .53 tons per capita. Its town manager, Linda Stumpf, could not be reached for comment.
    The Solid Waste Authority does not keep track of recyclables collected by the portions of cities with residents living on the barrier island. As a result, partial rates for Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Lantana could not be determined.
    The agency also does not keep track of individual recycling rates for the cities because few self-haul their trash, according to Willie Puz, agency spokesman. Most of the cities contract with four haulers.
    The county’s curbside recycling rate was 38.6 percent in 2013. When energy credits are included, the county’s rate is 55 percent, well on the way to meeting the state’s goal of 75 percent by 2020.
    But when the county’s multimillion-dollar waste-to-energy plant comes online early next year, the county will be able to include that energy generated in its recycling rate. When that plant is working, the recycling rate will increase even more, Puz said.

Recycling: Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Lantana
    The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County rewards cities for their recycling efforts by sharing revenue with them less the processing cost. The agency does not track individual city recycling rates because few cities self-haul trash to the landfills. The county’s curbside recycling rate was 38.6 percent in 2013. When energy credits are included, the county’s rate is 55 percent, well on the way to meeting the state’s goal of 75 percent by 2020.

Boca Raton - 2014 total revenue reimbursed: $120,338.19.
Total revenue reimbursed since 2010: $1.1 million
Total tons recycled since 2010: 38,008.14  
Per capita* tons recycled: .44

Delray Beach - 2014 total revenue reimbursed: $78,377.14.
Total revenue reimbursed since 2010: $678,469.87.
Total tons recycled since 2010: 23,724.63.
Per capita tons recycled: .38

Lantana - 2014 total revenue reimbursed: $12,137.39.
Total revenue reimbursed since 2010: $117,344.19.
Total tons recycled since 2010: 4,097.68.
 Per capita tons recycled: .38
*Based on 2014 population estimates from University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research

Aura Seaside plans to bring 244 multifamily units and commercial space

to replace the Cenacle retreat in Lantana.

Rendering provided

By Mary Thurwachter

    A plat and site plan for Aura Seaside, also known as the Cenacle property, received a thumbs-up on Nov. 24 from the Lantana Town Council.
    A more elaborate plan, requesting four variances to the town’s building code, came before the council in August, but failed to win support. No variances are required in the new plan.
    Jerry Goray, an Ocean Ridge developer who is planning to purchase the property with his partner Manny Martinez of Trinsic Residential Group, said they had gone “back to the drawing board to come up with a design more in tune with (the town’s) wishes.”
    Goray said he wanted the luxury apartment complex to look good, not only for the town, residents and neighbors, but also for someone very close to his heart.
    “We can see the site from our house,” he said, “so if we don’t get it right, I’m going to hear about it not only from you, but my wife.”
    The original plan called for 319 apartments, but the new proposal calls for 244 multifamily units. Also included are 10,200 square feet of  commercial, office/retail space and 614 parking spaces.
    The 10-acre waterfront property at 1400 S. Dixie Highway, across from the K-Mart Shopping Center, has been home to the Cenacle Spiritual Life Center for 52 years.
    When the property is developed, it will be added to the tax rolls, something Mayor Dave Stewart wanted to happen next year. That would mean the closing would need to occur by the end of this year.
    However, Goray said the closing couldn’t happen until mid-January. That means the town will need to wait another year to collect taxes on the property, currently tax exempt because of its church connection.
    “We got nothing for the 52 years with the Cenacle, I think we can wait another 365 days,” Council Member Phil Aridas said.
    Goray said he appreciated the town working with them on the project. “We respect their decisions, and we really are dedicated to becoming good neighbors. It’s been a long road and we are really enthusiastic.”
    Dave Arm, president of the Lantana Chamber of Commerce, said it was a terrific project.
    “This is an exciting time for Lantana, with the A.G. Holley property (being developed) and now this,” Arm said. “Five hundred-plus new residents can only be good for the town.”
    In other action,  the council voted to give Town Manager Deborah Manzo a 2.5 percent raise, slightly more than the 2 percent merit raises most town employees were given. Council members gave Manzo high marks in her annual evaluation and had awarded her more significant raises the past two years to put her salary more in line with other managers of similarly sized municipalities.
    The raise will mean $2,925 will be added to her current yearly pay of $117,000.